Editorial
If your dad said he would build you a brand new playground in a dusty corner of your backyard and then promptly invited the rich kids from over the road to come and play in it, would you be upset?
The Docklands community has been desperate for sporting infrastructure for years now. And lately the City of Melbourne and VicUrban have been talking specifics about a range of community infrastructure.
On September 3 intentions to locate sporting facilities under the Bolte Bridge were revealed as part of MAB Corporation’s next phase of residential development at NewQuay (see story).
Up until that point, no one in authority had said anything to the Docklands community about this. So it is disappointing to learn that before OUR community facilities have even been determined, the Lord Mayor Robert Doyle had been offering them to the Melbourne Football Club.
As it turns out, the Melbourne Football Club doesn’t really need or want to use the Docklands’ community’s as-yet-undetermined open space.
But it’s a bit rude of Cr Doyle to offer OUR facilities in any event. We might not even want a footy ground. Docklands could have close to the least number of footy fans per head of population in the nation.
At the announcement of OUR new park, VicUrban CEO Pru Sanderson said the Docklands community would be consulted about what shape the facilities would take.
The Premier, John Brumby, was there – praising Docklands as a great place to live.
But the Lord Mayor wasn’t in Docklands for the launch. On this morning he was attempting to steal the limelight away from the Docklands good news story by speaking with Neil Mitchell on radio station 3AW about his plans to keep the Melbourne Football Club within the City of Melbourne by letting them use the new community facilities at Docklands.
In footballing terms, he was climbing over the pack to punch away a potential spectacular mark for Docklands.
3AW ended a online news report on the subject with the question: “What do you think? Is a football oval the answer to the Docklands’ problems?”
Thanks Robert. You’ve done it again.
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